Beyond The Night
by Lady Artimes Blaine
Summary: *Book 1 of The Lost Angel series* Wings of gold and tales of old, a secret left untold, new story unfolds. Within the shadows of night, four stars shine so bright. For every war, there is a cost. A choice is made & three are lost. The lonely god travels far & wide, a hidden angel by his side, but in the shadows another dwells, her laughter the sound of bells.
1. Prologue: Through Fire and Flames

_Fire, smoke, explosions, screams, the sounds of a constant battle...so much death and destruction. Why? Black smoke billowing towards the sky, but the color of the sky kept changing...different worlds perhaps? Both day and night...battles, countless battles...why?_

_'Exterminate! Exterminate!'_

_That voice...mechanically synthesized yet absolutely terrifying. Why did that voice instill such fear in all who heard it? Sounds of lasers followed by even more screaming. So much was exploding around her...why? Why was she even in such a horrible place? Desperation...why was she feeling desperate?_

_'Alert! Alert! The….approaches! Exterminate the…….!'_

_Streams of silver light flew across the skies, colliding with several objects. The mechanically synthesized voices screamed in fear and pain and then countless explosions went off, the air pulsing from the countless shockwaves._

_She tensed as the sounds of footsteps reached her ears. A small feminine hand was in front of her face, palm upwards as if wanting her to take it._

_'Don't be afraid. I will always protect you.'_

_Her head snapped up but the only feature that she could actually see was the woman's eyes...a brilliant and deep sapphire hue and glowing with a light from within. She reached up and to take her hand but the scene before her faded away as she fell backwards into the darkness._

_A new scene unfolded before her...a mighty city encased in a glass dome. Gone were the sounds of battle and replaced with the sounds of squealing children. She looked around and saw a group of kids playing a short distance away...the grass was a soft red with other shades of the color mixing in._

_She approached the children, the desire to join them coursing through her little body and she realized that she, too, was a child, but as she got closer to them, a feeling of dread replaced the desire to join them. Their faces were not happy like they had been before...scowling, sneering, disgusted, and full on cruelty._

_Suddenly rocks and sticks were being thrown at her, forcing her to stop and cover her face. This continued for several moments before it stopped. She was pushed roughly to the ground as they started beating her up. She cried out in pain as a terrible ripping sensation erupted along her shoulder blades._

_'You're nothing but a freak! Rip them off!'_

_She screamed as her back erupted with a terrible pain, only for it to stop in an instant. The children were no longer surrounding her so she uncovered her face to discover why. Two kids were standing in front of her as if acting as a barrier. One was a boy with soft brown hair and the other was a girl with fire red hair._

_'Don't be afraid. I will protect you.'_

_That voice! It was the woman from before just a lot younger! She was sure of it...but who was the boy? The other kids ran away, screaming in terror when the girl took a single step towards them. The boy turned around to reveal eyes of a hazel green and just as the woman had done before, he extended his hand towards to help her._

_'You're safe now. We won't let anyone hurt you again.'_

_So much sincerity and kindness was in his voice...was she really safe with them? The red haired girl was suddenly behind her and there was a silver glow, the lingering pain disappeared and the light faded. She looked back to see the softly glowing blue eyes again, but this time, they were framed by two silver streaks in her fiery hair...how odd._

_The scene dissolved once more and she was enshrouded by the darkness yet again. A new scene faded in and she was in some kind of corridor, but she was running. Her arms were full of books and she could feel her legs getting tired, but she couldn't stop or they would catch her._

_She tripped and fell, her books and papers scattering everywhere. She tried to get up but her legs refused to hold her wait. She was surprised when she heard the boy's voice again._

_'How many times do I have to beat the hell out of you before you leave my sister alone?'_

_Sister? They were not related...she was certain of that. Did he unofficially adopt her or something? It didn't really matter because it didn't stop the surge of warmth and relief flood her system. She became aware of another presence when a hand appeared in front of her face but it was definitely a boy's hand._

_She looked up and saw a boy with blonde hair and steel blue eyes. Her heartbeat accelerated as her cheeks began to heat up. A strange sort of giddiness took over her as she gazed into the boy's gentle eyes._

_'Are you alright?'_

_She didn't hesitate and this time, she took his hand...a sense of completion filling her entire being as she smiled, her eyes bright with joy. He was the one...the one she didn't know that she had been searching for...he was hers and she was his...forever and always._

_The scene faded once more and she was once again in the midst of battle, but she wasn't alone. The woman with the glowing blue eyes was with her and so was he though he definitely didn't look the same, but she knew in her soul that it was still him. The three of them walked through the battlefield, countless explosions occurring around them but they didn't even flinch._

_So much screaming...the metal creatures were afraid of them...no, they were terrified but why? What were they capable of doing that would frighten them so much? Then she realized that it was not her they were afraid of...the man and woman walked ahead of her. He carried only a tube like device in his hand and the woman was entirely unarmed, but was glowing in a bright silver light._

_The metal creatures feared these two...so, so much. They could turn an army around at the mention of their names, making them flee in terror and never to return. She...she was nothing. She did not instill fear in the enemy like they did. She was their weakness, constantly targeted because they loved her._

_The scene faded again and she was alone in the darkness, holding what appeared to be a letter in her hands. She did not have to open it to know what it said...they were dead. Her best friend, her adoptive brother, and the man that was her soul's desire…. they were gone and she was alone._

_A terrible scream echoed around her and she realized that she was the one screaming. The pain came, all-consuming and blinding pain...like her very essence was being torn away and crammed into something tiny. All that was left was a void, an emptiness that could never be filled...but at least the pain that once threatened to destroy her was gone._

_Yet something still remained and it wasn't until three hands appeared, outstretched and waiting. The figures were nothing more than backlit silhouettes, but each hand that was extended towards her bore a ring identical to the others. She reached towards them and saw that she was wearing a ring identical to theirs._

_She gasped as two of the figures faded away but he still remained. She frowned when she realized that his shadow was in the shape of the woman and behind him was the brown haired boy wrapped in countless chains. He opened his mouth but the only sound that came out was a drumbeat, the same four beats being repeated over and over again as the chains swallowed him whole._

_She screamed again as the scene faded away. She was being held up in the air by her neck and she couldn't breathe, tears streaming down her face. Her mind screamed a single word, a desperate plea to be saved._


	2. Chapter 1: Echoes of Tomorrow

_Beep...beep...beep...beep...beep…_

A small feminine hand reached out from under a rather cozy comforter, groping about in search of the infernal contraption that dared to interrupt her much needed beauty sleep. The arm kept floundering around until the rest of her fell out of bed and onto a rather cold floor. She pushed herself up to sit on her legs, glaring venom soaked daggers at the incessantly beeping alarm clock.

She had placed the damn thing on her writing desk in front of the window so she wouldn't just hit the snooze bar, roll over and go back to sleep. On those specific days, she had barely clocked into work before the deadline, seven minutes after her scheduled shift time. Any later than that and she would lose a half hour's pay and if it happened more than five times in a ninety day period, she would get written up and suspended for two weeks without pay.

That was something that she desperately had to avoid. She had enough financial problems as it was; rent, groceries, bus fare to and from work, student loans, art supplies, tuition, and the list went on. She rose to her feet only to get caught up in the comforter and fall flat on her face, her arm hitting the bedside table and knocking over the lamp. She groaned when she heard it shatter to pieces on the hardwood floor..._and there was another expenditure_.

She untangled herself from the comforter and stood up, rubbing her arm to make the dull ache go away. She smacked her hand down on the alarm clock and silenced its awful racket. She then glanced at the remains of the bedside lamp, knowing she couldn't leave it for later because she always came home from work completely and totally exhausted. Between work and her rather volatile nightmares, her brain was pretty much mush and she didn't remember jack diddly squat, focusing solely on her very comfy bed and forgetting that the incident had even occurred.

The last thing she needed was to slice open her feet, call for an ambulance, go to the hospital, get patched up, and then be charged an arm, a leg, and her first born child just for a brief ride in a loud vehicle and a simple wrap up that would prevent her from going to work. She could not afford to lose her job. She had barely been able to get it in the first place. She was even luckier that she had even gotten into an accredited art school.

Why...because she had no memory prior to a few years ago. She also didn't have any form of identification and did not appear in any of the local or international databases. Several months were spent trying to garner any sort of information that could lead to her identity, but none was ever found. She didn't exist anywhere, both written and digital...a complete and total blank. They were about to transfer her case to a special agency that had the full backing of the United Nations, a place called _Torchwood_, but for some inexplicable reason that didn't happen.

The woman without a name, a past, or a place to call home was handed over to a representative from an organization called _UNIT_, some sort of scientifically based organization founded by the British military. This representative was a young woman with beautiful blonde hair and had the bluest blue eyes that she had ever seen. She didn't get a proper introduction with the woman outside of calling her, _Captain_, because she wasn't in her custody for very long. The Captain handed her a set of documents that allowed her to become a citizen of the United Kingdom which gave her access to college, employment, and housing.

She was given a small amount of money to tie her over until she found a job and from that day on, she was known as Elizabeth Amethyst Williams. Her middle name had obviously been chosen because of her eyes which were of the deepest and purest amethyst hue. Her first name originated from the Queen of England herself, _long may she reign_, but she had no idea why they chose _Williams_ as her last name. The Captain had simply smiled and said the word _Petrichor_. She actually looked it up in the dictionary later and it was the _smell of dust after the rain_. This just further confused her so she just accepted it and moved on with life.

It was really hard at first because she had no one to rely on and nobody knew her. She spent almost a year drowning in loneliness, adrift in the sea of time, but one day, she met a rather talkative blonde named Jackie and she has never been able to get rid of her since. Then came Jackie's daughter, Rose, and her boyfriend, Mickey. Elizabeth actually liked the dark skinned techie. He was always so kind to her but didnt smother her like Jackie or ask a billion questions about her life like Rose. He was closest thing she had to a friend though they were not all that close.

Rose actually helped her get a job at a department store and in less than a year, she had become the inventory manager and ironically Rose's direct superior, not that the young blonde minded of course. Something along the lines of _better you than Derek_. That man? Guy? Boy child...was a menace to society and a real thorn in her side. This idiot did not take no for an answer and has been constantly asking her out.

He tries to be all suave and charming but it was all a lie...an excuse to feel her up. She has been groped by his wandering hands more times than she would care to admit and the smug little bastard had connections with the higher ups. She tried to report his highly inappropriate conduct and quite blatant sexual harrassment to her superiors, but they refused to listen, believing that she was trying to get Derek fired so she could assume the position of Sales Manager and it's benefits.

They suspended her for a week without pay so she could reflect upon her actions and when she returned to work, she was forced to publicly apologize to that sleazy little fucktard. After that rather humiliating display, Derek's antics intensified drastically. It's a fucking miracle that she hasn't been raped yet...though he had taken to fondling her when no one was looking or rubbing his hand in between her legs and since she was a manager, she had to where professional attire and according to the official dress code, female managers were not permitted to wear slacks or anything masculine so that they could use their physical attractiveness to calm irate customers.

How they stayed in business was beyond her. The dark haired artist would have simply quit her job if she had another one lined up which she didn't. She almost quit on the spot the first time Derek had gotten a little too intimate, bypassing her underwear entirely, but then he threatened her...more specifically, he threatened Rose. That he would stop doing things to her and do them to the barely legal blonde that was her friend. She simply steeled her resolve and kept quiet as he essentially assaulted her in a public venue. Fortunately, the little hellion had been kept busy as of late due to the yearly convention when everything was being inspected, evaluated, and calculated...a much needed reprieve for the amethyst eyed woman.

Elizabeth shook her head, trying to rid herself of the ghostly sensations brought on by her memories. She then wandered off and retrieved a swish broom and a dustpan, returning and cleaning up the mess. She had a dickens of a time reaching what remained of the light bulb that had slid underneath her dresser. She finally managed to get it though and promptly hit her head on the edge of the writing desk. This was just not her day, was it? More like not her last few years...leaving a rather bitter taste in her mouth.

Returning to her feet, she glanced at the clock and her eyes widened in alarm. The noise that escaped her mouth as she made a mad dash to the bathroom was not entirely human. She didn't have time to wait for the water to heat up so she ended up taking a rather cold shower. She exited and slipped on the tile but she managed to catch herself by holding onto the bathroom sink. Honestly...of all the days to get lost down memory lane!

She dashed out of the bathroom, drying herself off as she went and threw open her closet. _Damn it! Why didn't she get her outfit out last night?!_ She rummaged through the clothes, grabbing a dark blue, v neck blouse and a mid thigh length black skirt. She then bolted over to her dresser to acquire the rest of her wardrobe. She silently cursed when she couldn't find her shoe and tossed the other one aside, snatching up her black flats instead.

She dressed as quickly as possible before racing back to the bathroom to brush and style her hair. She looked at her hair dryer longingly before ultimately deciding to go to work with her hair damp. She fumbled a bit when trying to get her makeup together, wanting desperately to bang her head into a wall when her favorite tube of lipstick fell into the damn toilet. She fished it out, making a face as the lipstick dripped out of the casing. She tossed it into the trash, only to miss and it skittered across the floor, leaving a lovely sticky trail behind. _She __**did not**_ _have time for this_. She rushed through her remaining makeup and simply used her Chapstick as a replacement.

She then made a beeline for the door, grabbing her purse and was half way out when she remembered that her normal jacket was in the wash and she had dropped her keys when she had grabbed her purse. _Did the universe just hate her today? What's next...her place of work being blown to smithereens or perhaps she would be abducted by aliens? _She ran back into her room, rifling through her closet once more for a jacket. She threw it on then looked about for her keys. She let out a shout of triumph when she located them.

One final check to make certain that she had everything and she was out the door, only to turn back around to lock the damn thing. She ran towards the lift and jabbed the down button, but then the display overhead flashed _Out of Service_. Seriously?! She almost screeched as she raced to the opposite side of the building to get to the stairs. She flew down the steps, almost twisting her ankle in the process and as she reached the last flight, she crashed into a young woman with brown hair and eyes. She apologized profusely, earning a rather bemused expression from the brunette girl.

"What's your name?" The woman asked as she helped Elizabeth to her feet.

"Uh...Elizabeth, Elizabeth Williams. You?" The aspiring artist asked mainly to make up for her nearly turning the poor girl into a pancake.

"Clara Oswald...and I was on my way to make a souffle but it appears that I need to go shopping again...and you need a new jacket." The brunette informed gesturing to now egg covered suit jacket, eliciting a painful moan from the dark haired woman.

"Bloody hell! I don't have time to get another one! I'm already running late!" Elizabeth cried out in despair.

"Here, take mine and I'll take yours to the cleaners. When you come home, drop by my mum's flat. It's on the ninth floor, suite 21B. Sound good...good." Clara proposed not bothering to let the artist say otherwise.

Within moments, the pair had exchanged coats and the brunette waved her on which was all she needed to rush out of the stairwell and towards the nearest bus stop, barely managing to get on in time before it left. Had she waited another two minutes, she would have seen her new friend meeting up with a man with dark hair and blue eyes and a rather unusual blue box situated in the nearby alley. Little did the aspiring artist know that she was currently on a one way trip to crazy town and the adventure of a lifetime.


End file.
